First, apologies for the ugly formatting. At the ripe old age of 59.75 I have finally taught myself Excel (well, Google Sheets really) to be able to organize and start making sense out of these 60 line items, but for the life of me I can't get the tabs/tables/formats to look right (frustrating for an academic), so they will have to do. Because of all the duplicate and myriad accounts/funds, I thought it best to present via asset class, so no matter the type (traditional, roth, taxable), they are lumped into domestic/all stocks, international stocks, bonds and bond-like pension/annuities, and finally brokerage-held money market cash that I will likely move somewhere else as analyses proceed. Figures that start with =X (and without any fund in the row) indicate a sum of that asset class percentage. I do give a snapshot recap of where the asset allocations fall within funds taken individually after main comprehensive table. With that said, here goes:
Emergency funds: yes
Debt: 0
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 24% Federal, 4.25% State
State of Residence: LA for now
Age: him 60 her 59 rounding up a couple of months
Desired Asset allocation: 74% stocks / 26% bonds
Desired International allocation: 10% of stocks
Desired retirement horizon =2-3 years
Total portfolio: 3.0M
%DescriptionSymbolCurrent ValueAccount Name
19.6Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$643,892Her tIRA
6.5VANGUARD INST INDEXVINIX$214,463RPM 401(K) PLAN
4.4CREF Equity Index Account;R2QCEQPX$145,645TIAA ira2
1.3CREF Equity Index Account;R2QCEQPX$43,719TIAA ira1
3.9CREF Stock Account;R2QCSTPX$129,495TDA tax defer
4.0CREF Stock Account;R2QCSTPX$130,600TIAA ira1
3.2CREF Growth Account;R2QCGRPX$104,423TIAA ira2
2.4CREF Growth Account;R2QCGRPX$78,799TIAA ira1
1.4Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;ETFVTI$45,962TIAA tIRA
2.0Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund;AdmiralVTMGX$64,549Her tIRA
1.0Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund;AdmiralVEMAX$32,236Her tIRA
0.7VANG MIDCAP IDX INSTVMCIX$22,342CT FI 401k
0.2VANG SM CAP IDX INSTVSCIX$5,375CT FI 401k
0.1Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund;AdmiralVIMAX$4,151TIAA ira2
0.1Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund;AdmiralVSMAX$2,140TIAA ira2
0.1Vanguard Equity Income Fund;AdmiralVEIRX$2,102TIAA ira2
0.9TIAA Real Estate AccountQREARX$28,265TIAA ira1
1.0Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$31,633MR VG Roth
0.9FIDELITY TOTAL MARKET INDEX FUNDFSKAX$30,212FI ROTH IRA
0.9Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$28,213CT VG Roth
1.6Nuveen Core Equity Fund;ATIIRX$54,063taxableTIAA-MF
0.6Nuveen Large Cap Growth Fund;ATIRTX$18,483taxableTIAA-MF
=56.5% domestic/total market equities
3.6VANGUARD TARGET 2025VTTVX$118,570blend=52/42/6CT FI 401k
3.7CREF Social Choice Bend=59/39/1;R2QCSCPX$122,122
blended AA equity/bnd
=7.3%=add 4.1% to equity +3.2% to bond
2.7CREF Global Equity Account;R2QCGLPX$87,266TIAA ira1
1.1VANG TOT INTL STK ISVTSNX$36,317CT FI 401k
0.6CREF Global Equity Account;R2QCGLPX$18,756TIAA ira2
0.5Vanguard Total International StockVXUS$15,333TIAA tIRA
0.9Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$31,067Her tIRA
0.4Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$14,373CT VG Roth
0.3Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$8,722MR VG Roth
0.2FIDELITY ZERO INTERNATIONAL INDEXFZILX$7,630FI ROTH IRA
0.2FIDELITY TOTAL INTL INDEX FUNDFTIHX$7,620FI ROTH IRA
0.3Nuveen International Equity Fund;ATIERX$9,444taxableTIAA-MF
=6.9% Internat'l Equity
4.2VANG TOT BD MKT INSTVBTIX$136,718CT FI 401k
2.9Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$94,109Her tIRA
3.3Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$108,039MR VG Roth
0.8Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;ETFBND$26,781TIAA tIRA
0.7FIDELITY U.S. BOND INDEX FUNDFXNAX$22,343FI ROTH IRA
0.7Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$24,284CT VG Roth
1.2CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Account;R2QCILPX$39,653TIAA ira2
1.1CREF Core Bond Account;R2QCBMPX$37,450TIAA ira2
0.3Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund ETFBIV$9,097TIAA tIRA
0.3Vanguard Sht-Term Inflation-Protected Sec Idx;AdmVTAPX$8,568CT VG Roth
0.2Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund;AdmVTABX$7,118CT VG Roth
0.5Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund;AdmVTABX$16,269Her tIRA
0.2FIDELITY INT'L BOND INDEX FUNDFBIIX$7,464FI ROTH IRA
0.2Vanguard Total International Bond Index VTABX$7,271MR VG Roth
1.5TIAA Traditional$49,275TIAA ira1
0.1TIAA Traditional$3,422TIAA ira12
0.2TIAA Traditional liquid$7,020TIAA ira2
8.4Pension fund (RPM)$275,000
=26.7% nominal bonds/pension($879,879)
=29.9%ALL bond/annuity with blended funds@3.2%
1.1Fidelity MONEY MARKETSPAXX**$37,008taxableFI CMA
1.1Vanguard Federal Money MarketVMFXX$37,592taxableVG Joint Brok/cma
100.0
A small rounding (or long day mental math/old eyes) error below but these are the asset allocations by account
Taxable:
2% Money markets
2.5%TIAA mutual funds (TIAA M-F above, 100% equities with relatively low cost basis)
ROTH:
4%Equities
1% International Equities
6% Bonds=0.9+1.3+3.5
IRAs/401k/403b:
54% Domestic Equities
6% International Equities
16% Bond funds
Annuity/Pension funds:
8% company pension fund
2% TIAA annuity fund
We own outright a house @600k and condo in kids college town @180k
Expected inheritances from 2 88-89 year old fathers: 700k
Anticipate retirement in 2-3 years (at age 62/61) trying to accept that most people recommend a higher bond allocation than we have although we have possible annuities that have to be weighed, along with inheritance windfalls. College expenses, for which we have always paid cash, should end same year as retirement, and we have been able to maintain a steady contribution to max her 401k and both Roth IRAs, since I work part time without retirement benefits. Have not bought I-Bonds yet and have interest in that as a possible bond component. Both our dads held 100% equities and came away mostly unscathed and I have only recently began to increase bond holdings--in fact I "made the mistake" of buying about 2-3 years ago only to see my cost basis well above current market value. The good to come out of that, besides learning first hand how bond prices work, was being able to do some tax loss harvesting in a taxable mutual fund and to give me the perspective that current bond valuations are still below what I paid, so let's get them while they are still cheap if it makes sense in the overall plan. That helps explain a 6% (of total portfolio) BND position in my Vanguard Roth from recent consolidations. I am still not sure where BND/BIV fit long term, compared to the I-bonds, TIPS, or TIAA traditional annuity products (that come in liquid and illiquid flavors), and the retirement pension fund from RPM International--whose stock we can buy but don't really see the point. I liquidated one of the TIAA traditional annuity for the BND in Roth, in part because the TIAA was a recent vintage in the worst rate category, but I do wonder if I shouldn't do some vintage harvesting and sell off some of the weaker vintages in favor of current offerings. If I can still purchase into the 10 year depletion DC plan it might not be a bad competitor to the TIPS/I-bonds numbers but for the lack of liquidity that still could work with her pension and SS as income floor to allow continued aggressive positions.That is just another factor in this complex calculus that I have followed for years but only now getting my head around nuts and bolts of decumulation. It goes without saying that we are not risk averse by any means, not only by our constitution but also because of how we got here: we never quite stopped living like grad students (2PhD's) and although I was forced into early retirement (with NO compensation, not even a library card!) from academia, she has continued trail blazing as a field/product engineer in the construction industry (and wants OUT!). Anyway, we enjoy the good life and want to enjoy it in early retirement, but know how to live frugally and enjoy it. That's just one reason we want out of my semi-home of New Orleans area: monthly expenses for insurance (home, flood and auto) are twice our first mortgage in Cleveland. ACs run most of the year, cost more than my first car, and have shorter lifespans than ever, and so on.
If there are questions lost in the meandering context above, they would be:
1. do you see any obvious gaps/blindspots?
I know there are too many funds, the result of multiple contracts, some spotty offerings at jobs, etc. I did not list ERs because they were in a different table and had too much trouble getting percentages straight. Suffice to say the most people know the Vanguard and Fidelity low cost funds I was able to find and that the TIAA-CREF funds are neither great nor terrible (averaging 0.29-0.32, except 1.09 in real estate). I have least allegiance to TIAA but do have some older vintage traditional (too little to be of great consequence) and curious about people's thought on annuitizing some of that at some point, which would really be the only reason not to roll what's left of the TIAA accounts into VG and Fidelity.
2. is my stated allocation goal of 74%/26% unreasonable as a ceiling before starting any rebalancing? I realized that the annuity/pension/blended components after my recent consolidation of accounts actually raised the bond component to 30%. I feel that could probably fund a decade of poor market performance as long as inflation keeps in step. I just pounded through Michael McClung's Living Off Your Money that has a decent review of various harvesting and withdrawal methods, and don't feel need to make great changes. Mental math puts me at 2/3 equities. I guess we would run the risk of being too low in bonds but sort of feel that we are so far ahead of the game that we could afford a time out or correction with nearly a third in bond/pension/cash.
3.Here's one I keep forgetting, but somewhat pressing and at the heart of the strategy, really: what to do with the taxable money market funds? I have read that some prefer bond allocations tilted to shorter and intermediate terms. Still need to decide how much cash to keep on hand because seems like we always have been too high in low-paying bank balances. At least the MMs are paying a decent rate these days (and thank goodness we have no needs to take on debt). I need to keep plowing though old threads, look back at Larry S's book on bonds, and figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together. For now, the tens of hours getting to this point of global view has been instructive since it's the first time I have not done it in pencil/paper so it's easier to manipulate the data and track changes.
4. (edit to add) Not sure what to do with taxable mutuals with their low cost basis. As TIAA they have higher expenses, but at least now we are in no doubt a higher tax bracket than early or mid retirement. Not sure when/if it makes sense to sell vs hold and grow. We currently do no re-invest and take the cap gains as cash but that could be changed. We owe the taxes on the gains no matter where they go.
Emergency funds: yes
Debt: 0
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 24% Federal, 4.25% State
State of Residence: LA for now
Age: him 60 her 59 rounding up a couple of months
Desired Asset allocation: 74% stocks / 26% bonds
Desired International allocation: 10% of stocks
Desired retirement horizon =2-3 years
Total portfolio: 3.0M
%DescriptionSymbolCurrent ValueAccount Name
19.6Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$643,892Her tIRA
6.5VANGUARD INST INDEXVINIX$214,463RPM 401(K) PLAN
4.4CREF Equity Index Account;R2QCEQPX$145,645TIAA ira2
1.3CREF Equity Index Account;R2QCEQPX$43,719TIAA ira1
3.9CREF Stock Account;R2QCSTPX$129,495TDA tax defer
4.0CREF Stock Account;R2QCSTPX$130,600TIAA ira1
3.2CREF Growth Account;R2QCGRPX$104,423TIAA ira2
2.4CREF Growth Account;R2QCGRPX$78,799TIAA ira1
1.4Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;ETFVTI$45,962TIAA tIRA
2.0Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund;AdmiralVTMGX$64,549Her tIRA
1.0Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund;AdmiralVEMAX$32,236Her tIRA
0.7VANG MIDCAP IDX INSTVMCIX$22,342CT FI 401k
0.2VANG SM CAP IDX INSTVSCIX$5,375CT FI 401k
0.1Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund;AdmiralVIMAX$4,151TIAA ira2
0.1Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund;AdmiralVSMAX$2,140TIAA ira2
0.1Vanguard Equity Income Fund;AdmiralVEIRX$2,102TIAA ira2
0.9TIAA Real Estate AccountQREARX$28,265TIAA ira1
1.0Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$31,633MR VG Roth
0.9FIDELITY TOTAL MARKET INDEX FUNDFSKAX$30,212FI ROTH IRA
0.9Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund;AdmiralVTSAX$28,213CT VG Roth
1.6Nuveen Core Equity Fund;ATIIRX$54,063taxableTIAA-MF
0.6Nuveen Large Cap Growth Fund;ATIRTX$18,483taxableTIAA-MF
=56.5% domestic/total market equities
3.6VANGUARD TARGET 2025VTTVX$118,570blend=52/42/6CT FI 401k
3.7CREF Social Choice Bend=59/39/1;R2QCSCPX$122,122
blended AA equity/bnd
=7.3%=add 4.1% to equity +3.2% to bond
2.7CREF Global Equity Account;R2QCGLPX$87,266TIAA ira1
1.1VANG TOT INTL STK ISVTSNX$36,317CT FI 401k
0.6CREF Global Equity Account;R2QCGLPX$18,756TIAA ira2
0.5Vanguard Total International StockVXUS$15,333TIAA tIRA
0.9Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$31,067Her tIRA
0.4Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$14,373CT VG Roth
0.3Vanguard Total International StockVTIAX$8,722MR VG Roth
0.2FIDELITY ZERO INTERNATIONAL INDEXFZILX$7,630FI ROTH IRA
0.2FIDELITY TOTAL INTL INDEX FUNDFTIHX$7,620FI ROTH IRA
0.3Nuveen International Equity Fund;ATIERX$9,444taxableTIAA-MF
=6.9% Internat'l Equity
4.2VANG TOT BD MKT INSTVBTIX$136,718CT FI 401k
2.9Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$94,109Her tIRA
3.3Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$108,039MR VG Roth
0.8Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;ETFBND$26,781TIAA tIRA
0.7FIDELITY U.S. BOND INDEX FUNDFXNAX$22,343FI ROTH IRA
0.7Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund;AdmiralVBTLX$24,284CT VG Roth
1.2CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Account;R2QCILPX$39,653TIAA ira2
1.1CREF Core Bond Account;R2QCBMPX$37,450TIAA ira2
0.3Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund ETFBIV$9,097TIAA tIRA
0.3Vanguard Sht-Term Inflation-Protected Sec Idx;AdmVTAPX$8,568CT VG Roth
0.2Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund;AdmVTABX$7,118CT VG Roth
0.5Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund;AdmVTABX$16,269Her tIRA
0.2FIDELITY INT'L BOND INDEX FUNDFBIIX$7,464FI ROTH IRA
0.2Vanguard Total International Bond Index VTABX$7,271MR VG Roth
1.5TIAA Traditional$49,275TIAA ira1
0.1TIAA Traditional$3,422TIAA ira12
0.2TIAA Traditional liquid$7,020TIAA ira2
8.4Pension fund (RPM)$275,000
=26.7% nominal bonds/pension($879,879)
=29.9%ALL bond/annuity with blended funds@3.2%
1.1Fidelity MONEY MARKETSPAXX**$37,008taxableFI CMA
1.1Vanguard Federal Money MarketVMFXX$37,592taxableVG Joint Brok/cma
100.0
A small rounding (or long day mental math/old eyes) error below but these are the asset allocations by account
Taxable:
2% Money markets
2.5%TIAA mutual funds (TIAA M-F above, 100% equities with relatively low cost basis)
ROTH:
4%Equities
1% International Equities
6% Bonds=0.9+1.3+3.5
IRAs/401k/403b:
54% Domestic Equities
6% International Equities
16% Bond funds
Annuity/Pension funds:
8% company pension fund
2% TIAA annuity fund
We own outright a house @600k and condo in kids college town @180k
Expected inheritances from 2 88-89 year old fathers: 700k
Anticipate retirement in 2-3 years (at age 62/61) trying to accept that most people recommend a higher bond allocation than we have although we have possible annuities that have to be weighed, along with inheritance windfalls. College expenses, for which we have always paid cash, should end same year as retirement, and we have been able to maintain a steady contribution to max her 401k and both Roth IRAs, since I work part time without retirement benefits. Have not bought I-Bonds yet and have interest in that as a possible bond component. Both our dads held 100% equities and came away mostly unscathed and I have only recently began to increase bond holdings--in fact I "made the mistake" of buying about 2-3 years ago only to see my cost basis well above current market value. The good to come out of that, besides learning first hand how bond prices work, was being able to do some tax loss harvesting in a taxable mutual fund and to give me the perspective that current bond valuations are still below what I paid, so let's get them while they are still cheap if it makes sense in the overall plan. That helps explain a 6% (of total portfolio) BND position in my Vanguard Roth from recent consolidations. I am still not sure where BND/BIV fit long term, compared to the I-bonds, TIPS, or TIAA traditional annuity products (that come in liquid and illiquid flavors), and the retirement pension fund from RPM International--whose stock we can buy but don't really see the point. I liquidated one of the TIAA traditional annuity for the BND in Roth, in part because the TIAA was a recent vintage in the worst rate category, but I do wonder if I shouldn't do some vintage harvesting and sell off some of the weaker vintages in favor of current offerings. If I can still purchase into the 10 year depletion DC plan it might not be a bad competitor to the TIPS/I-bonds numbers but for the lack of liquidity that still could work with her pension and SS as income floor to allow continued aggressive positions.That is just another factor in this complex calculus that I have followed for years but only now getting my head around nuts and bolts of decumulation. It goes without saying that we are not risk averse by any means, not only by our constitution but also because of how we got here: we never quite stopped living like grad students (2PhD's) and although I was forced into early retirement (with NO compensation, not even a library card!) from academia, she has continued trail blazing as a field/product engineer in the construction industry (and wants OUT!). Anyway, we enjoy the good life and want to enjoy it in early retirement, but know how to live frugally and enjoy it. That's just one reason we want out of my semi-home of New Orleans area: monthly expenses for insurance (home, flood and auto) are twice our first mortgage in Cleveland. ACs run most of the year, cost more than my first car, and have shorter lifespans than ever, and so on.
If there are questions lost in the meandering context above, they would be:
1. do you see any obvious gaps/blindspots?
I know there are too many funds, the result of multiple contracts, some spotty offerings at jobs, etc. I did not list ERs because they were in a different table and had too much trouble getting percentages straight. Suffice to say the most people know the Vanguard and Fidelity low cost funds I was able to find and that the TIAA-CREF funds are neither great nor terrible (averaging 0.29-0.32, except 1.09 in real estate). I have least allegiance to TIAA but do have some older vintage traditional (too little to be of great consequence) and curious about people's thought on annuitizing some of that at some point, which would really be the only reason not to roll what's left of the TIAA accounts into VG and Fidelity.
2. is my stated allocation goal of 74%/26% unreasonable as a ceiling before starting any rebalancing? I realized that the annuity/pension/blended components after my recent consolidation of accounts actually raised the bond component to 30%. I feel that could probably fund a decade of poor market performance as long as inflation keeps in step. I just pounded through Michael McClung's Living Off Your Money that has a decent review of various harvesting and withdrawal methods, and don't feel need to make great changes. Mental math puts me at 2/3 equities. I guess we would run the risk of being too low in bonds but sort of feel that we are so far ahead of the game that we could afford a time out or correction with nearly a third in bond/pension/cash.
3.Here's one I keep forgetting, but somewhat pressing and at the heart of the strategy, really: what to do with the taxable money market funds? I have read that some prefer bond allocations tilted to shorter and intermediate terms. Still need to decide how much cash to keep on hand because seems like we always have been too high in low-paying bank balances. At least the MMs are paying a decent rate these days (and thank goodness we have no needs to take on debt). I need to keep plowing though old threads, look back at Larry S's book on bonds, and figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together. For now, the tens of hours getting to this point of global view has been instructive since it's the first time I have not done it in pencil/paper so it's easier to manipulate the data and track changes.
4. (edit to add) Not sure what to do with taxable mutuals with their low cost basis. As TIAA they have higher expenses, but at least now we are in no doubt a higher tax bracket than early or mid retirement. Not sure when/if it makes sense to sell vs hold and grow. We currently do no re-invest and take the cap gains as cash but that could be changed. We owe the taxes on the gains no matter where they go.
Statistics: Posted by mnr3 — Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:49 pm — Replies 1 — Views 311